Gary Hirshberg told graduates at the Bates College commencement in Maine that conventional wisdom is "a fabricated aura of inevitability bought and paid for by massive lobbying and campaign finance donations." He urged graduates to "invent your future."

Hirshberg turned a seven-cow organic farming school in Vermont into the world's largest organic yogurt producer, with $360 million in annual sales.

Sunday's commencement was the first in which Bates President A. Clayton Spencer conferred degrees. She became Bates' eighth president last year.

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